


Certain As the Sun

by LiveAndLetRain (CaraLee)



Series: Naruto Fairytale AUs [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Beauty and the Beast Fusion, F/M, Found Family, Fuuinjutsu, Mostly Gen, Namikaze Minato Adopts Hatake Kakashi, POV Namikaze Minato, Team Minato-centric, Uzushiogakure | Hidden Eddy Village
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-11
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:01:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21752659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaraLee/pseuds/LiveAndLetRain
Summary: In which Minato just wanted to take Kakashi camping in the Forest of Death like a Responsible Ninja Parent.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi & Namikaze Minato, Namikaze Minato/Uzumaki Kushina
Series: Naruto Fairytale AUs [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1567792
Comments: 11
Kudos: 70





	Certain As the Sun

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nym_Pseudo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nym_Pseudo/gifts).



The Forest of Death is one of those interesting sorts of places that only still exists because it would be too much trouble to get rid of. And shinobi can be so sentimental about the weirdest things, such as mortal enemies or their founding Hokage’s monster garden. And it is convenient for throwing young teenagers and pre-teens into in the name of the chūnnin exams. (It isn’t part of the exams  _ every _ time Konoha hosts but it is still a fairly regular location.)

It is also, Minato decides, as good a way as any to distract his apprentice.

All the progress he’s made towards getting Kakashi to lighten up a little had been completely undone by Sakumo-san’s disgrace and suicide. And while that is hardly the greatest effect of the tragedy, it is the one that Minato has the best chance of being able to do something about, right behind ‘make sure there is an adult in Kakashi’s life who treats him like a child, not a weapon, but also doesn’t treat him like an idiot.’

It's a delicate balance, made harder to maintain by the fact that Kakashi  _ is  _ actually an idiot sometimes, despite being a genius. (Not that Minato isn’t occasionally the same way, as Mikoto likes to remind him in her ultra-polite-but-also-very-rude-and-condescending clan way.) But Minato is all Kakashi has (just like Kakashi is all Minato has) so he’ll do his best.

The long and short of the matter is, the next round of Academy graduations isn’t for another two months. Minato is fairly certain Sandaime-sama will approve his request to put Kakashi on a genin team (with Minato as jōnin sensei of course, no way he’ll inflict his adorable apprentice on some poor unsuspecting jōnin) in the interests of forcing him to socialize with children his own age, even if they can’t immediately match him in rank or skill. Said children have to graduate first though and in the meantime, Minato is left scrambling for ways to keep Kakashi occupied and challenged, while also doing good things for his mental health, which is at an all-time low. And Minato says that as a jōnin, which is enough of a qualification in and of itself to make any Yamanaka complain bitterly about poor self-care. 

They are still frequently sent on missions of course, they  _ are _ at war and there are always jobs that need doing, but courier missions through enemy territory and the occasional assassination are in no way a benefit to Kakashi’s mental health, so Minato isn’t counting them.

The Forest of Death is perfect. Kakashi will balk at anything as mundane and “useless” as  _ camping _ , but by heading out to the Forest of Death Minato can make a good case for it as a survival training exercise. Kakashi is still highly suspicious of course but accepts the orders with all the dead-eyed calm that has returned full-force these past months, though Minato is probably the only one who’d know that it had almost left in the first place. (Minato’s long-term goal is to get Kakashi to question an order. He has his work cut out for him.)

The first hour or so is rather boring. Especially by Forest of Death standards. So, of course, they find the leeches by tripping over them, literally speaking. They’ve been strolling along rather leisurely by shinobi standards, and Kakashi comes back up to his feet with a neat tuck and roll without a single hesitation. 

Minato, who rather than running into a leech actually stepped on one, is not so lucky. He’d landed with enough force that his foot, chakra-enforced in reaction to Kakashi’s stumble had actually broken through the slimy, wet-leather-like skin of the leeches back, leaving Minato standing in a thrashing leech up almost to his knee.

Minato regularly has to clean blood and other human remnants out of his hair and clothing. This is  _ the _ single grossest thing he has ever encountered. Including that one D-rank where his genin team had to clean out the septic system of that one civilian village. (That mission was the reason Jiraiya-sensei stopped harassing the desk-shinobi. Turns out groping  _ them _ results in being assigned the grossest D-ranks imaginable.)

Kakashi promptly goes about dispatching the rest of the leeches, about as close as he gets to emoting joyful glee all over the place. Minato stands back and lets him have his fun, only taking out a couple in revenge for his ruined sandals. 

The next few hours go about how Minato expects. An oversized tiger or two and an exceptionally vicious Red Panda roughly the size of Minato’s two-room apartment in the jōnin housing sector.

And then they find the seals.

Minato will be the first to admit that he has a bit of a weakness for weird and interesting seals. And these look like Uzumaki seals! Minato hasn’t seen anything even  _ approaching _ this quality outside his own work and Jiraiya-sensei’s since Uzushiogakure was destroyed back at the beginning of the war.

But these? These are  _ unmistakably _ of Uzushio origin and Minato can’t help but lean in closer to get a better look.

That one there is probably a protection seal. Something about...guarding a border? It could also be a prison seal, he turns his head to the side for a slightly different angle. That one sigil could be designed to keep people in  _ or _ out. It's so hard to tell…

Kakashi’s chakra signature flares a warning and Minato realizes a split second too late that he is prodding the tree that the seal is carved into with his own chakra like a rookie who’s never touched a brush before.

Oops.

Kakashi’s small hand grips his arm at the same moment Minato is engulfed in a swirl of foreign chakra that not even he is fast enough to evade and they are ripped out of the clearing they’re in. 

They hit the ground hard, Minato barely catching himself in time to keep from crushing Kakashi underneath him. He balances on his toes and tries to ignore the rock pressing into his elbow and forearm where it pushes into the ground beside Kakashi’s head. He also manages to keep from hurling all over Kakashi, which he’s sure his apprentice will appreciate.

They have been transported to a different part of the Forest of Death altogether, but Minato is fairly sure they are at least still in the Forest of Death. The large tiger crouching not more than six Kakashi steps away, low to the ground, tail lashing, seems to indicate so at least. 

Still disoriented from the sudden forced relocation, Minato does his best to shift his weight in preparation to move without the tiger noticing. He slides a kunai out of his weapons pouch.

There is no way he could hit it at his top speed right now; or even his regular speed. Whatever that chakra was, it’s left him barely able to see straight, let alone channel his own chakra well, but he should be able to move fast enough to kill it without either him or Kakashi getting injured. His apprentice is lying terrifyingly still beneath him, but Minato doesn’t dare take his eyes off the tiger even for the fraction of a second it would take to check on him.

If whatever those seals are has hurt Kakashi he is going to hunt down their maker and have  _ words _ with them. (And by ‘words’ he means he is going to cause them a lot of physical pain, even if he has to swim out to the ruins of Uzushiogakure and resurrect them first. He’s pretty sure he can figure out how Nidaime’s rumored resurrection jutsu worked if given enough time.)

Just as he is about to spring, the tiger sits back on its haunches and blinks at him. This is  _ not _ normal tiger behavior, even for a tiger in the Forest of Death, and Minato pauses to reassess the situation.

Everything feels... _ off _ . Even beyond his own disturbed chakra. Not quite like a genjutsu, but not like reality either. Chakra is moving oddly through the environment and the tiger itself. Almost... _ backwards. _ The only thing other than him and Kakashi that feels even remotely  _ normal _ is moving in their direction. It feels human, and he tilts his head slightly so he can watch both the tiger and the thicket the new arrival is coming around.

“Who are you?”

Whatever he was expecting, it wasn’t a vaguely familiar boy who can’t be more than a couple years older than Kakashi, let alone one wearing orange goggles and loudly demanding his identity in the middle of the Forest of Death. Either he’s definitely been hit by a genjutsu (unlikely considering he is even able to consider it without having to fight for it) or this is some sort of trap. Or both. That is a very real possibility.

“Who are  _ you _ ?” he demands back, and the boy frowns at him.

“No fair, I asked first!” and he actually  _ pouts _ . Minato is thrown for a moment before he remembers that most nine-year-olds (or thereabouts) don’t act like Kakashi and despite what he is used to a certain level of childishness is to be expected.

“I did ask first, didn’t I!” the loud boy turns to the  _ tiger _ for confirmation and it  _ nods _ . Minato is starting to consider that he might be trapped in one of those weird scary stories the older kids at the orphanage had always told the younger ones on stormy nights. Both the boy and the tiger turn to look at Minato expectantly.

This is a bit of a dilemma. Iwa has a bounty on Minato’s head high enough to purchase half of Iron Country and Kumo’s is even larger. He can’t exactly go around announcing his identity to strange...tigers. Or children. It is actually kind of weird to even be asked who he is. Usually, he is pretty recognizable. (It’s probably the hair.) 

Which is half the reason he hasn’t cut or dyed it to be less noticeable. He draws attacks to himself that way. All the heavy hitters want a chance at Konoha’s Yellow Flash and if they are coming after  _ him _ then they aren’t going after his comrades, which means Kakashi far more often than Minato is comfortable with these days.

“I’m a shinobi of Konoha.” he finally settles on. “My student and I were in the Forest of Death when we were transported here. Wherever here is.” He hopes that will be enough to prompt the boy to at least give him information on their location.

“Oh!” the boy’s face lights up with understanding. “You found The Fence!” He nods, his orange goggles bobbing up and down wildly. “That’s what happened to me too!” He hops right up to Minato, completely fearless, and sticks out his hand. 

“I’m Uchiha Obito! Nice to meet you!”

“Uchiha?” Minato says, shaking the boy’s hand, not taking his eyes off him. “Why would an Uchiha be all the way out here?”

“I told you,” Obito rolls his eyes. “I found The Fence! And so I got brought here and then nee-chan found me.” 

He shrugs, suddenly less relaxed. “I decided to stay. Everyone here is a lot nicer than the clan and they like me and want me around!”

The kid (Obito, why is that familiar) grins up at Minato, before looking down at the ground. “Oh, your friend is bleeding.” He drops into a crouch, reaching for Kakashi. Minato is finally able to look down, tracking the strange boy’s movements towards his apprentice.

Kakashi is unconscious, which explains his stillness; the visible half of his face even paler than usual, about the color of freshly fallen snow. Obito prods at Kakashi’s head, which is indeed bleeding, if lightly for a head wound. Minato swats his hand away and then tenses as the tiger growls and takes a step closer.

“He hit his head on a rock,” Obito announces, ignoring Minato and the tiger’s interaction but looking somewhat serious for a split second before rolling his eyes. “The great Hatake Kakashi, taken out by a tiny little rock.”

“You know Kakashi?” Minato asks sharply. Kakashi  _ is _ beginning to make a name for himself, but for someone to recognize him and  _ not _ Minato himself is both strange and alarming.

Obito rolls his eyes again. “How could I  _ not _ ? Idiot showing me up all the time”, voice dropping to a mutter. “He’ll be fine,” he continues at full volume. “Probably wake up before we get home.”

Minato’s hand snaps out and latches around the wrist of the hand reaching for Kakashi’s shoulder. Regardless of the tiger’s opinions, he will not let a stranger keep touching his apprentice. “We aren’t going anywhere with you, kid. Not until I get some answers.”

Obito scowls and pulls back as Minato releases him. He looks ready to yell but the tiger, oddly enough, huffs, tilting its head to the side, watching Minato, but not actually  _ doing _ anything. Obito heaves a tremendous sigh, nodding in acquiescence. “Okay, yeah. That’s fair.”

He gestures at the trees around them, the long-suffering expression on his face remarkably similar to Kakashi’s whenever he has to interact with Gai or Genma. “You’re in a corner of the Forest of Death but it's also a kind of pocket dimension. The boundaries are protected with a bunch of seals that most people can’t cross. On the outside, they can’t even see them. It keeps us safe.”

“Safe from what?”

Obito shrugs, unconcerned in the way of the young. “Stuff.”

“That’s why I’ve got to take you in. People aren’t supposed to get across The Fence. Me and Rin did, and now you two. That’s not good.”

And now Minato knows who the boy is.

A little more than a year ago, two Academy students had gone missing in the Forest of Death. Minato had been on the Kiri border at the time and had only heard about it some months after the fact. And he’d had other priorities at the time. He’d returned to Konoha only to find his tiny apprentice living alone in an empty house, his father’s blood staining the floor beneath the tatami. His hands, usually as pale as those of a lady from the daimyo’s court, scrubbed red and raw in attempts to wash away phantom blood.

He hadn’t known one of the kids was an Uchiha but he had heard through the jōnin gossip chain that one of them was a girl named Nohara Rin.

If nothing else he  _ has _ to follow this up. Two of Konoha’s children. Children he has sworn to protect. Slowly, he gets to his feet, lifting Kakashi carefully into his arms as he goes.

“Lead the way.”

*** 

It is highly unsettling, running through the forest with a tiger keeping an easy pace an arms-reach to the side. Kakashi wakes up about half-way to their still-undisclosed destination and makes it the rest of the way on his own two feet, sticking close to Minato (though not so close as to hamper any swift movement or provide too easy of a target) and keeping a wary eye on both Obito and the tiger. He doesn’t ask for an explanation though, just a subtle inquiry in their own personal code of field-sign if he needs to be prepared for anything in particular.

If  _ this _ situation, where nothing feels like what it looks like, doesn’t rattle him out of his obsessive adherence to protocol, Minato is starting to think nothing ever will.

They come out of the trees, cross a small beach and are running over water. Even the tiger.

If he wasn’t already sure that  _ something _ was going on with the tiger, Minato might have lost enough of his concentration to get his toes wet.

Animals, Regular animals, can’t control their chakra like that. Summons can, but the tiger doesn’t  _ feel _ like a summons. It also doesn’t feel like a tiger. Minato isn’t discounting a ninja disguising themselves with genjutsu just yet. He really wants to switch to sage mode to try and understand what in Kiri is going on, but he can’t afford to show his hand this soon. Not when he might need the element of surprise later.

Between one step and the next, Minato feels a chill up his spine and over his skin, like they are running under a waterfall, and suddenly ahead of them, in the middle of the lake, a village shimmers into view. It is small and simple, looking not unlike the civilian villages Minato has seen in Wave. But something seems...off about it. And it has the same strange chakra flow as the rest of the environment. Almost reversed from the natural flow.

A shadow falls overhead and Minato glances up. A bird flies over, pacing their speed as easily as the tiger that is not a tiger. A shark’s fin cuts through the water to their other side.

Obito never flinches, though he waves up at the bird cheerfully and Minato would swear it dips a wing in response. 

As soon as the water beneath their feet is replaced by the wood of a dock, Obito whirls to face them, arms spread wide, his grin matching.

“Welcome to the Village Hidden in the Seal!”


End file.
